


Make Your Own Kind of Music

by Dylan_EV



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Next-Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-04-14 05:31:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4552497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dylan_EV/pseuds/Dylan_EV
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When your parents are Snow White, Captain Hook, Robin Hood or Belle, life is not always easy and can be very special. Find out who Neal, Hope, Colette and Liam are really are; Learn more about their personal lives and Follow them in High School and all around Storybrooke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginnings

Summer had flown by this year and vacations were nearly over. Lying on the yellow green grass of the Storybrooke park, Neal was looking up at the clouds in the sky, trying to forget that in three day's time, he would start his very first day as a sophomore in high school. His eyes caught a cloud shaped like a sheep when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He took off his earphones without pausing the music.

“Hm?” He mumbled, still looking at the sky.  
“What are you thinking about?” Rose asked, inquisitive.  
“Nothing,”  
“Come on, everyone is always thinking of something, anything. Do you wanna know what I'm thinking of right now?”  
“Even if I say no, you'll tell me anyway...”  
Rose laughed, and sat down in front of Neal.  
“High school,”  
“Woah, who would have thought?” Neal said sarcastically.  
'Stop it! I just don't understand why you're not more enthusiastic about it. I mean this is our second year!”  
“Which will be as boring as the first,”  
“School's not boring!”  
“Speak for yourself.”  
“You're not fun, sometimes.”  
“I am fun, school is just not. I'd rather sword fight and save kingdoms like my parents used to do,”

Neal stood up and stopped the music that was still playing on his ipod. A dark-haired boy was playing near the lake.  
“Oh look at him, so arrogant,” Rose noticed.  
“He's just feeding the ducks, R.”  
“Whatever. I don't understand what's so cool about spending time at the lake,”  
“Says the girl who reads a different book every day,” Neal added, pointing at the huge novel next to Rose.  
“Reading teaches you things. All he does is play with the swans. You know what, I'm starting to think he has some kind of weird obsession with water,”  
“How would you know?”  
“I know everything,”  
“Like what?”  
“Like Graham has a crush on one of the Glowerhaven twins.”  
“Which one?”  
“Melody, obviously,”  
“What's so obvious about that?”  
“I'm just saying. What about you, do you fancy someone?”  
“Hm what? No... I don't... I gotta go, sorry.”

** FLASHBACKS **

“Daddy! Wake up, Daddy!”  
“Your son's awake,” Charming muttered, still half asleep.  
Snow opened her eyes and saw her six-year-old son at the other end of the bed. He was already all prepared, his backpack on his shoulders.  
“Woah, there. Looks like someone is in a hurry,”  
“It's the first day of school,” Neal insisted, euphoric.  
“Have you washed your face?”  
“Uh...”  
“Have you at least had breakfast?”  
“Uh...”  
“That's what I thought,”  
She got up, and instinctively walked to the crib near her bed.  
“Hey there,” She said, taking her youngest daughter in her arms. “Still sleepy, aren't we?”  
The baby yawned as an answer.  
“Need some help?” Charming, who had gotten out of bed, asked.  
“Could you give a bottle to Clarisse? I've got to prepare breakfast for Neal,”  
“No problem,” He declared, grabbing his daughter from his wife's arms.  
“Come, Neal. Let's go clean you up and then, time to eat someting”  
After getting ready in the bathroom, they walked down to the kitchen. Snow took one bowl and one mug out of the cupboard and put them on the counter.  
“When's Emma coming?” Neal questioned, while Snow poured cereal and milk into his bowl.  
“I don't think she will, sweetheart,” Snow replied.  
“Why not?”  
“She has other things to do. I believe she and Killian have to take Graham to kindergarten.”  
“Oh, but I wanted her to be there,” Neal admitted with a pout.  
“I know, I'm sorry. Still excited?”  
“Yeah...”  
“But hey, Phil will be there!”  
Neal's face instantly lit up with a smile. Phil had been his best friend since like forever, he had basically known him his whole life. He ate more cereal when someone knocked at the door.  
“I got it!” Charming exclaimed, still holding Clarisse. “Hey Phillip, you're here early! Come on in,”  
Phillip entered the apartment, followed by a tiny version of himself.  
“Stop running like that Junior!” Phillip warned his son whom was rushing to his best friend.  
“Hey Neal, why won't you go your room and play with Phil?” Snow said.  
This thought seemed to excite Neal greatly.  
“Okay!” He responded, leaving this bowl of cereal unfinished.  
“Where's Aurora?” Snow asked.  
“She couldn't come. She had other matters to attend,”  
“You didn't leave Stefan alone, did you?”  
“What kind of father do you think I am? He's at his godmother's.”  
“You want something to drink?”  
“A coffee would be nice.”  
“Coming right up!”  
Snow, Charming and Phillip then spent a good twenty minutes chatting about their lives and their children's future academic career. It was almost nine o'clock when Charming called Neal and Phil. He sat his son down on the counter, checked it had everything he needed in his backpack and put on his shoes.  
“Ready?”

** PRESENT **

“I can't wait ‘til I have my license.” Neal noticed.  
He was sitting in the back of Emma's car, Rose next to him, and Graham at the front, on the passenger seat.  
“C'mon, you like it when I drive you places,” Emma said.  
“Yeah I do but I'd rather have my own car and not share it with my nephew,”  
“Hey!” Graham exclaimed. “Sorry you don't like me, Uncle.”  
“I've already told you, not to call me that! And I've never said I didn't like you, I'd rather be alone or with someone else...”  
“At least, consider yourself that you don't have to wait another whole year to get your license,” Rose intervined, “And Graham, just a reminder, I don't like you.”  
“Thanks but I already knew that.”  
“You're welcome.”  
“So Graham, excited about your first day in High School?”  
“Mom.”  
“What? I'm just asking? You know, I remember Henry's first day like it was yesterday. He was pretty enthusiastic about it, Regina however...”  
“Why? What happened?” Rose asked.  
“Let's just say she wasn't quite emotionally prepared to see her son so grown-up,”  
“Speaking of Regina, is she driving Hope to school?”  
“I don't know. Oh, we're here!”  
Emma stopped the car and was about to get out when Graham asked:  
“Mom, what are you doing?”  
“Coming with you,”  
“No you're not, it's weird,”  
Neal, Rose and Graham were now out of the car.  
“Oh sorry, if you're embarrassed by your old mother,” Emma claimed through the window, sounding a little hurt. “Do you have your lunch?”  
“Yes, mom.”  
“Great. Have a good day! I love you,”  
“I love you too mom,” Graham mumbled as the car drove away, his ears turning slightly red.  
“Bye Emma!” Neal and Rose claimed, both laughing.  
“Stop it, you two!”  
“You know, it was kinda cute,” Rose admitted. “At least, it proves she cares about you,”  
“Oh thank the lord, my own mother loves me.”  
“Hey guys, whose that car?” Neal asked, pointing to a beautiful blood red convertible.  
“I don't know but their parents must be wealthy as hell,”  
A young girl stepped out of the said car. She had long thick dark hair and was wearing a blueish dress and shades.  
“Hope?!” Rose exclaimed.  
“Hi guys!” Hope exclaimed, waving at them. “Ready to start a new year of school?”  
“Since when do you have a car?” Rose asked, without answering Hope's pointless question.  
“Oh that! It's just a gift from my mother!”  
“A gift?” Neal repeated. “What for?”  
“For entering High School, of course,”  
“Your mother offered you a car because you passed from one grade to another?” Graham asked, overly confused.  
“Yes, what's wrong with that?”  
“Do you even have your licence?” Rose noticed.  
“You know what, why don't we just walk to class?”  
“Unbelievable,”  
“Perks of having the mayor as your mother,”

After parting ways with Hope and Graham, Neal and Rose arrived in the classroom reserved to the sophomores. There were two empty chairs: Neal naturally sat next to Phil, his best friend and Rose took the remaining seat. An old man was already behind the teacher's desk.  
“Looks like we have everybody,” He declared after going to close the door after Neal and Rose. “For those who don't know me, my name is Mr Smith and I'll be your instructor, as well as your English teacher during this year of school,”  
“Mr Smith, you're the only English teacher in this school,” Rose noticed. “We all had you last year,”  
“Thank you for the reminder, Miss Gold. Well, first things first, let's call roll.”  
Mr Smith put on his glasses and started reading the class list.  
“I can't believe school's back already,” Phil declared.  
“Me neither,” Neal replied. “But it's good to see you. How was the trip to Argentina?”  
“It was awesome and the landscapes were so gorgeous,” Phil explained. “Of course, mom kept repeating us to not tell anyone who we really are. Oh, and also Stefan got sick for like a week,”  
“Damn. Did you meet anybody?”  
“Oh yeah, I've met plenty of great people,”  
“No, I mean, like a girlfriend?”  
“Oh. No, I didn't even think about it. Anyhow, I already like someone,”  
“You do?” Neal questionned, disconcerted.  
“Excuse me, Mr Dawn, am I disturbing you and Mr Nolan?”  
“Sorry, Mr Smith,” Neal apologized before seeing that Rose was looking at him like she was shooting lasers with her eyes.

** FLASHBACKS **

“I don't wanna go,” Neal whined on the verge of tear.  
“But you were so excited about, just one hour ago,” Charming said.  
“I know. But I thought you would come with me,” Neal explained, rubbing his teary eyes with the back of his little hand.  
Charming giggled.  
“I'm too old to go to school, buddy,”  
“Did you go to school when you were my age?”  
“No, not really. I was too poor and my childhood was way too different. I was home schooled,”  
“What does that mean?”  
“I mean that my mom was my teacher. She taught me how to write and read and do math,”  
“Why can't mommy teach me too?”  
“Because it's different. Hey look, you won't be alone. Chris and Phil will be there too, and Aurora is gonna be your teacher. You like Aurora, right?”  
Neal nodded.  
“And you're a big boy now, mom packed your favorite lunch in your bag; I promise everything will be fine. C'mon, gimme a hug,”  
Charming held his son tightly and tenderly, trying to comfort him as much as he could.  
“And nothing for me?” Snow intervined.  
Neal laughed before giving his mom a big hug too. At the same moment, Snow saw Belle and her daughter coming towards them, which sort of confused her.  
“Belle? What are you doing here?” She asked, “Kindergarten only starts next week,”  
“I know, Rose is not going to kindergarten. In fact, she's going to be in the same grade as Neal now,” Belle explained.  
“Say what?”  
“She had an aptitude test recently and the institutor and I agreed to let her skip a grade, so now here we are,”  
“Oh that's great!” Charming exclaimed with a smile, “She inherited her mother's brains,”  
“Aw, thank you, David,” Belle said.  
Belle kissed her daughter goodbye and Snow and Charming did the same to Neal. When the kids were all in class, Snow's cellphone rang.  
“Hello?” Snow replied. “Oh hey, Regina, is everything okay?” “...” “Alright, I'm coming right up,”  
“Something's wrong?” Charming wondered.  
“Regina wants to see me now. She said it was important,”  
“Oh okay, well I'll just head back home with Clarisse, I'll see you later,”

When Snow arrived at Regina's mayor office, she found her sitting behind her desk, busy filling some papers.  
“Oh Snow, I didn't see you coming” Regina said, getting up to her friend, “How are you doing, today?”  
“Fine, thank you. It was Neal's first day of scool today. Was pretty intense,”  
“I remember Henry's first day, it was pretty special because he kept asking me why he was the only the one to in his class to go to the first grade, because of, well you know,”  
“I do. Where's Hope?”  
“She's with Robin. He insists on teaching her on how to use a bow. She is four…”  
Snow couldn't help but laughing.  
“Believe me, I know the feeling. Charming bought Neal a sword for his fifth birthday. And not a wooden one, a real one. Anyway, why did you want to see me?”  
“Please sit. You want a biscuit?” Regina asked politely, returning to her seat.  
“No, I'm good,”  
“Alright. I don't know if you're aware but Mr Chapman, the High School's headmaster recently passed away.”  
“I heard. How tragic,”  
“Well not so tragic, he was very very old, about time if you ask me,”  
“Regina!” Snow exclaimed, indirectly offended.  
“Sorry, sorry. So, as I was saying Mr Chapman, that means the post of headmaster is now vacant...”  
“And?”  
“And what would you think about replacing him?”  
“Me?”  
“Yes, you,”  
“But I don't know anything about directing a school, even less a high school,”  
“Think about it. You're great with kids, people love you and you used to be mayor once. I'm sure you'll do perfectly fine. So what do you say?”

**PRESENT**

The headmaster walked into the classroom and the whole class immediately stood up by respect. Neal's mother had been at the head of Storybrooke High for over ten years now.  
“Please, sit down,”  
After the students did as she said, she continued:  
“First of all, I would like to welcome all of you for your second year of High School. I hope everything will be fine and this year will go on without any trouble or accident. Second of all, let me remind you that the inscriptions for the different clubs will be open next week. For more information, please refer to the people in charge of each club. Finally I'd like to announce that, this year, Storybrooke has been chosen to participate in the Annual Competition of High Schools,”  
“What's that?” Christian Hermann, Alexandra's little brother, asked.  
“It's a competition where three schools in each state face each other in a series of games and tests. The best school in every state will compete against the other states at the grand finale, which takes place at the end of the school year,” Snow explained.  
“Isn't it a bit risky to be part of such a thing though?” Rose asked.  
“Don't worry, everything has been planned in sort of that nothing unusual happens. As you all know, it is now possible to leave Storybrooke and return, and since the regional meeting is happening in Portland, no one from the outside will actually come here.”  
“What's the third town participating?” The kid, sitting next to Rose, interrogated.  
“It actually has not been decided yet because there has been some conflict between two schools, but rest easy but we shall know very soon. Any questions?”

At lunch, Neal and Rose reunited with Hope and Graham. Each of their meal-trays represented them: On Neal's, there was only a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a banana, and an orange juicebox; Rose's was the most tidy and she insisted on eating a different and complete meal every day; this day it was pasta salad, smashed potatoes and a yogurt without fruit pieces; Hope's was exclusively composed of fruit and vegetables since she was vegan: kale salad, tomato juice and a fresh apple; and Graham was just a sandwich made of everything eatable than he found in his fridge and a coke.  
“So,” Hope begins after taking another mouthful of salad, “Have you guys thought of which clubs you’re gonna pick?”  
“I think I'll just try out for the baseball team. I might sign up for the fencing club, too,” Neal replied.  
“Don't you have your father for that?”  
“Well, he did teach me a few things, but never how to defend myself properly. He says it's not really useful, especially in Storybrooke.”  
Rose washed her hands with a bottle of scented hand sanitizer and took a huge binder out of her bag.  
“I planned on being in as many clubs as possible this year, so I prepared a detailed schedule,” She explained.  
“You mean like you did last year?” Neal noticed.  
She ignored him.  
“I took a look at the list of clubs in the hall, and I'm very interested in the chemistry club, the magic club...”  
“You don't really need to be in that kind of club,”  
She was still ignoring him.  
“The magic club, the book club, the cooking club and the self-defense club,”  
“Woah, you need to have time for sleep club too,” Hope claimed laughing. “Me, I'm just gonna try to be part of the archery club,”  
“Try? You're the best archer in this entire high school by a mile.” Neal retorted. “At least your father taught you everything he knows, and he's also the head of that club,”  
“Actually no. Merida is going to replace it this year. What about you Graham, anything you're interested in... Graham? Hey Graham!”  
He was busy looking at the beautiful girl with long wavy redish black hair with a starfish hair barette. She was having lunch with a boy with short dark hair.  
“Graham totally has a crush on Melody,” Hope commented.  
Rose gave Neal her famous I-told-you-so look.  
“No, I don't,” Graham replied not really convincing.  
“You're such a bad liar. I absolutely understand though. I mean she's a mermaid and she's really pretty. But you know, it's not good to be so obsessed with people,”  
“I'm not obsessed!” Graham exclaimed.  
“Yeah, right. Her brother is cute too, not my type, but cute.” Hope remarked. “What do you think, Neal?”  
“Me? Uh... they seem nice,”  
“Honestly, Graham. I know you're not all that smart,” Rose said, “But why don't you just ask her out?”  
“Hey, I'm smart, thank you very much! And I can't because she's always with Bass, they never leave each other. I feel weird every time I try to approach her,”  
“You know what we should do?” Hope proposed. “Once a week, each of us should have lunch with people outside of the squad. We really need to make new friends that's not one of us,”  
“Phil's my best friend,” Neal said, vaguely offended.  
“You don't really spend much time with him as you used to, to be honest,”  
Neal did not answer and finished his PBJ sandwich.

**FLASHBACKS**

At the end of the first day of class, Neal ran into his father's arms when he saw him outside the school.  
“Someone's excited! Did you have fun today?”  
“Yeah! I learned how to read,” Neal said, really enthusiastic.  
“Did you, now?”  
“Well, it was just a couple of words,” Aurora, who was standing behind Neal intervened.  
“Okay, time to go home now.”  
“Daddy, can we go to the park instead? Phil and Rose could come with us! Please?”  
“Oh, yeah, but I don't know if Phil's mom and Rose's are okay with it,” Charming explained.  
“Absolutely,” Aurora said. “I still have to prepare tomorrow's class and Mulan is taking care of Stefan,”  
“Mommy, can I go too?” Rose asked Belle.  
“Of course. David, you're sure you don't mind?”  
“Not at all.”

David, Neal, Rose and Phillip Jr arrived at the park ten minutes later. He let them play in the sandbox and sat on a bench where he would be able to see everything they were doing.  
“What should we do?” Neal asked.  
“Let's build a castle!”  
They then began to gather clods of sand, using it to builtd four towers and walls. Neal put on a leaf on the top of the main towers, as a little green flag.  
“This castle is lame!” Rose noticed. “Let me do it!”  
She closed her eyes, like she was concentrating and the sand castle transformed into the exact miniature replica of a true castle, with real towers made of white stones and even a drawbridge over a small puddle of water. The leaf was now a real flag, wawing in the wind.  
“Wow, cool! How did you do that?” Neal exclaimed, stars in his eyes.  
“Magic!”  
Phillip, however, did not seem as excited as his friend was.  
“Isn't it dangerous?”  
“No. Dark magic is dangerous, this is not!”  
“What else can you do?” Neal, whom was eager to see more, asked.  
“Look,”  
She stared at the castle and a little knight on horse appears out of nowhere.  
“I wanna know how to do that too!” Neal admitted.  
“I can show you how. I can also do that,”  
The castle started catching fire and the little knight desperately try to run away from it before being engulfed in flames.  
“AAAAH!” Phil screamed, terrorized, “This is... You're... You're a monster!”  
He started crying and Neal noticed that Rose was crying too.  
“I want my mommy! I want my mommy!” Phil yelled.  
Charming, who had overheard them, ran towards them.  
“Hey, hey, what's going on here? What happened?”  
None of them dared to answer.  
“I wanna go home, I wanna get away from her!” Phil insisted, his eyes still red and puffy.  
“Phil, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.” Rose said, trying to apologize.  
“I don't care!”  
“Alright, let's all calm down,” Charming said. “I think it's better if we all just go home. I'm gonna call Belle and Aurora to come pick you up.”

“So what happened exactly?” Aurora asked, after trying to comfort her son as much as she could.  
“I don't really know,” Charming admitted, “They were just playing in the sandbox, and one minute after, they started crying,”  
Belle walked to the sandbox, to examine it more closely.  
“Magic,”  
“What?” Aurora and Charming said at the same time.  
“Magic, magic was here,” She concluded.  
“You mean one of them used magic?” Aurora asked, concerned.  
“Yes. It was certainly not Phil, not according to his reaction. And I don't think it was Neal either...”  
“Wait, do you mean, it was...”  
“Yeah.”  
“But Emma has magic too, it could as well be Neal!” Charming remarked.  
“No, it's different. Don't worry, I'll talk to her,”  
“I'll do the same with Junior,”  
Charming looked at his car and saw that Neal was glancing outside the window. It was like he was trying to choose between his two friends, between Phil, whom he had known all his life and Rose, he had just come to know but already appreciated a lot.

**PRESENT**

The day had flown and school was already over. Neal and Rose were lying underneath a tree and both were staring at the sky full of stars.  
“You know, we've never really talked about what happened that day at the park,” Neal said calmly.  
“What day?”  
“You know what day,”  
Surprisingly, Rose remained quiet and did not respond.  
“I know we were just kids and I had hoped things would just get better with time but I guess, they didn't. You really scared him, you know,”  
“I didn’t mean to.”  
“I know, but he didn't know that. Magic was never really part of his life, unlike us. Of course, there was Maleficent but neither of his parents are magical. You inherited from your father and me, well, I'm the product of true love. So that's why, I chose your side, because even though I had never used magic, I understood it. I felt like I had to protect you, I really hated that he called you a monster,”  
“Oh, it's all forgotten, trust me. I wanted to apologize though,”  
“For what?”  
“Because of me, your friendship to Phil is not what he used to be. It's all my fault, if you two don't hang out a lot, and just talk to each other when you're in class.”  
“It's not your fault, it's mine. I neglected him, while I should've been there for him,”  
Neal continued looking at the night sky and saw a bunch of stars forming the same flower that was his father's crest when he was still a real Prince.  
“Sometimes, I wonder what the Enchanted Forest is truly like. I know our parents have told us about it and it sounds fantastic, but I'd love to go there to see how it is really like, even for just one day. Don't you?”  
“No, not really. I'm quite happy in Storybrooke,”  
“Me too, but I feel like it's part of who I am, you know? Like it’s my legacy and I haven't truly lived until I’ve gone there.”  
“I don't think it's possible anyway. There's no way to go there,”  
“I know,”  
“There's something else I want to tell you,”  
“What is it?”  
Neal hesitated for a second because it was something he had never told anyone ever. A secret that was his and his only but she was his best friend, and deep down, he knew, she would understand.  
“You know, when you asked me if I fancied someone the other day?”  
“Yes?”  
“Well, I do like someone, I mean love.” Neal paused for a second.  
“It's Phil, isn't it?”  
“Wha... How did you know?”  
“I told you, I know everything,”


	2. Miracles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope Chapter.

One week had passed since the first day of school and Hope had already gotten used to her life as a freshman in high school. Every morning, she would wake up at six, go for a thirty minute run with _Eye of the Tiger_ playing in her headphones and come home to eat a breakfast exclusively made of fruit and cereal. The Mills mansion was very quiet at this hour of the day, almost too quiet. Her parents were still asleep, Roland was out of town in college and Henry was living on his own now. Hope took her pills that she had to take everyday before jumping into the shower. Under the water, she heard her parents waking up in the other room. Hope loved the feeling of hot water running onto her skin, it made her feel more awake and energized. Her bath products were only also biological and natural products; she loved to take a lot of time to take care of her own body.

Even though Regina wanted to drive her to school, Hope finally convinced her not to. What was the point of having her own car if she was not using it? Today was a particularly exciting day because it was selection day. She would definitely try to get into the archery club (well not try, because she was certain she would get in; what she really wanted was to the best. She didn’t really care about being the best at everything, but she wanted to be the best at _something_. After two hour of math and one of history, Hope hurriedly ate lunch and went directly to the forest where the selections were taking place. There were about twenty students waiting near the big trees, hoping to make it into the archery club. Hope didn't recognize anyone except from a few freshmen. Merida, the instructor, arrived a bit late, and asked the candidates to form three lines of ten people and for each to place one of the targets.

“This will be very simple. The first person in each row shall draw an arrow and hit a score, if the person after them does better, they're eliminated, otherwise they continue until someone else beats their score.”

“That's all?” A tall girl with curly hair asked.

“That's all. The last nine candidates remaining, three per line, will make it into the club, no matter the grade, age or sex. To avoid any cheating, you will use thoses bows,” Merida added, showing the quivers at the bottom of the tree. “Any questions?”

“If we fail, do we get a second chance?” A freshman asked.

“No, no second chances. It's all or nothing. Let's get ready.”

Hope was third in her line. The two boys before her both hit six and five respectively, and beating them seemed more than easy. She picked up the bow, chose an arrow, took a deep sharp breathe, and concentrated. She felt the warm wind of September on her face, and heard birds whistling in the distance. There was no sunlight, which made her vision even more perfect. She closed her eyes a fraction of second and released her bow. Eight. The arrow hit the circle which represented eight points. It was not bad, but it definitely was not good. She wanted to hit ten and nothing else. She walked towards the ones who already had tempted their chances and watched the others try to beat them. The girl after her hit seven, so naturally she took the place of the boy with five points, whom was forced to leave the selection immediately. Finally, when everyone else in the two other lines had had their shot, there was one girl left in Hope's line. It was the same tall girl who had asked the question earlier. Hope was not worried by her place in the archery club (that was already earned thanks to her eight points), but by being the best. Indeed she had had the best score of all the three lines and it had to stay like that. The tall girl took the arrow in her hands and Hope could swear she was whispering to it – who does that? Everyone's eyes were focused on the girl and it felt like time was standing still. Hope noticed that the girl was not shaking one bit; she was relaxed, it was almost calming. Three, two, one... Bulls-eye. Thunderous applauds followed it. Everybody was standing up, cheering for their new hero. Hope felt a little bitter. That applause was supposed to be for her, not some stranger with some luck. Or at least she wanted it to be.

“Excellent job,” Merida congratulated, “Very neat and well executed, miss?”

“Barton.”

“Attention, everyone, this is how you do archery, like Miss Barton just demonstrated.”

Hope rolled her eyes, received the paper to prove she was officially in the club and left right away. However, she felt someone grabbing her arm. She turned back and saw that Barton girl. What the hell does she want, she thought to herself.

“Hey, I just wanted to say that I saw you shooting and you're very good.”

“Thanks. You too,” Hope answered, forcing to smile.

“I hope we'll become very good friends!” She exclaimed, very enthusiastic.

“Me too,” Hope lied.

“I'm Taylor by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Taylor, I'm Hope.”

**FLASHBACKS**

“Let's have a baby.”

“What?”

Robin and Regina were both lying in their bed, the news playing on the television. In the other rooms, Roland and Henry were probably already asleep.

“Let's have a baby,” Robin repeated.

Regina put down her book.

“Robin... You know we can't, well _I_ can't.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“I took that potion, remember? Unless you want to adopt, I'm afraid it won't ever be possible.”

“Why not? All curses can be broken, you need to have hope. Listen, I love you and Roland and Henry, but our family feels... incomplete. After this Zelena thing, I believed the idea of having our own baby was lost forever, but now that they're both gone, we finally have a chance at a fresh start.”

“And even if a such thing was possible, how would we do it? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm better at casting curses than breaking them.”

“Then, let's go see Gold.”

“Rumplestiltskin? You want to ask Rumplestiltskin's help to have a baby? No that's a bad idea. Knowing him, he would probably ask her for something in return.”

“Maybe not. I mean, look, he's become a changed man since his heart has healed, his wife is even pregnant.”

“Well, good for her!”

“Regina, please,”

“I'm sorry.”

“So, what do you say? Let's just see him, we have nothing to lose,”

“Alright. But that's only because I love you,”

She kissed him tenderly and went back to the book she was reading.

The morning after, Regina and Robin rode to Mr Gold's panshop. He was standing behind the counter, looking at something with a magnifying glass.

“Well, well. If it isn’t our two lovebirds.”

“Gold please, I don't have time,” Regina retorted. “I... We need your help.”

“As does everyone. What do you want?”

“We want to have a baby.”

“You already came to me with the same question over thirteen years ago and my answer is still the same.”

“That's not what I mean! I'd like to know how I _can_ have a baby.”

“Well that's pretty simple, would you like me to show you? The man's...”

“I know how those things works! Please hear me out. I don't know if you're aware, but a long time ago, I drank a potion and now I can't carry a child.”

“That I know.”

“Well then, I wanted to know whether there was a way to reverse this, a way to have my own children?”

Gold put the back the medal he had been examining in the window display and took another.

“Indeed, there is”

“Really?” Robin intervened.

“Yes but as I always say, all magic comes with a price. You don't beat fire with fire, without expecting to get burnt in return,”

“I don't care of the consequences. Tell me what it is?”

“Regina, are you sure, this is what you really want? It could be dangerous,” Robin said, trying to resonate his soul mate.

“Yes, I am. It's you who suggested to have a baby, I'm not gonna back down now.”

Robin just smiled and Regina knew he agreed with her.

“So, Gold, what must we do?”

“There is actually no way to break this kind of curse. However, there exists a plant that allows people like you to fix their medical trouble. It won't clear you of your infertility but it will give a chance to have a baby.”

“A chance? What do you mean a chance?”

“It's not sure it will actually work, it's fifty-fifty and there are other cons as well. If you do succeed, it might be a premature baby, have health problem or even both.”

“I'll take the risk. So, what's this plant?”

“It is an ancient flower, called The Magical Sun. It's a flower than only grows alone, every ten years, which makes it very, very rare.”

“And where do we find such a flower?” Robin asked.

“In the enchanted forest, of course.”

**PRESENT**

“Sorry I'm late!”

When Hope arrived home that night, her parents were already sitting at the table waiting for her so they could start dinner. She sat with them and poured some soup into her bowl.

“How was your day, honey?” Robin asked.

“It was alright. Today was the selections for the archery club,”

“Really? Why didn't you tell us?” Regina remarked.

“I didn't want you to worry,”

“Us, worrying? It's you who wants to be in the club. So, how was it?”

“Fine.”

“Just fine? You're usually more excited when you talk about what you love,” Regina said, raising an eyebrow.

“Your mother is right, Hope. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it's just that...”

“That, what?”

“There's this girl, Taylor Barton, she managed to have a better score than me. I know it's stupid and it shouldn't bother me so much, but it does,”

“Someone beat you at archery? It's impossible, there must have been a mistake,” Robin pointed out. “No one's beats Robin Locksley's daughter at archery,”

“Robin!” Regina shot him a look.

“What? It's true. And whoever is this Taylor Barton? Do you know her Regina?”

“Can't say that I do... Hey, where are you going?”

Hope had gotten up, ready to leave the dinner table.

“I'm not hungry anymore and... I have homework,”

“Hope…” Regina said in a warning tone. “Sit back down, please.”

“Mom, please, I really don't feel good,”

“Leave her alone, Regina,”

“Fine. I'll save you some pie, and don't forget to take your pills!”

Without replying, Hope walked up to her room, closed her down, jumped on her bed and opened her laptop. Neal, Rose and Graham were already connected on Skype and Hope joined the call.

“Hey Hope, how’s it going?” Graham asked.

“Do you guys know a girl named Taylor Barton?”

“Well, I'm good too, thank you,” Graham replied sarcastically.

“Taylor Barton?” Rose repeated. “I think she's a Junior at Storybrooke High. Her dad builds houses or something. Why do you ask?”

“She's my new nemesis,”

At the other side of the screen, Graham and Neal started laughing.

“Your new nemesis?” Neal said.

“Yeah, I'm not kidding. As you all know today were selections for the archery club?”

“Oh, how was it by the way?” Rose asked.

“It was okay. So as I was saying, there were selections and that girl, Taylor Barton, she was better than me,”

“No?” Graham said in an exaggerated tone.

“It's not funny Graham!” Rose exclaimed, “I, too, hate when someone is better than me. Thankfully, that never happens.”

“Well, that's nice to know I have you guys' support,” Hope said.

“You always have our support, but don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?” Neal wondered.

Deep inside, Hope was aware that she was, but she was also quite stubborn and did not want to admit they were right and she didn’t want to argue with her friends.

“You know what? I'm tired, I think I'm gonna go. See you guys tomorrow.”

“Hope, wai–”

But it was too late, Hope had already shut down her laptop.

**FLASHBACKS**

Regina was still pacing up and down in her office, while Robin was trying to remain calm on the sofa.

“How the hell are we going to find this flower if we can't even go to the Enchanted Forest?”

“We're going to find a way, Regina,”

“Really? Because unless you have some magical bean or hat, I don't see how that's possible,”

“Right. Maybe, we could ask a mermaid to go get it for us?” Robin suggested.

“The only mermaid whom would be willing to help us lives in the Enchanted Forest and there is no way to communicate between world. It's hopeless,”

“Wait, Elsa and her friends were in Storybrooke, but they managed to return to Arendelle, right?”

Suddenly, Regina's face illuminated.

“Right. We need to find the Apprentice now,”

The Apprentice opened the door.

“May I help you?”

“Yes, hello, my name is...”

“I know who you are. The Evil Queen,”

“Her name is Regina,” Robin intervined, seeing Regina visibly upset at the recognition.

“Sorry. What do you want?” The Apprentice asked politely.

“I think it's better if we come inside.”

“This better not be a loss of my time,” he warned as he let them in.

Regina and Robin walked in, and followed him into the living room. Seeing the size of the house, it was obvious the Apprentice lived on his own.

“So?”

“I'm going to go straight to the point. We need to go to the Enchanted Forest,”

The Apprentice started laughing so hard, Robin was pretty certain the neighbors could hear him at this instant.

“That's not funny!” Regina exclaimed.

“You want to go to our world? Why?”

“I need to retrieve something important.”

“And what's that?”

“You think I'm going to tell you? That's personal!”

“I'm sorry but I can't help you if I don't know what you're looking for. Now if you don't mind, get out of my house,” The Apprentice said in a semi-threatening voice.

“Wait...” Robin started, “We want to find a flower called The Magical Sun.”

“Then I'm afraid I can't help.”

Regina noticed that the Apprentice's expression had changed, like he was hiding something.

“You do know about this flower, don't you?”

“Of course, I do. Every respectable wizard does. But it's not a common plant. It's rare, very rare. So rare that no one alive has ever seen one for real, only in pictures. Also, it can only be found by someone who truly desire to find it and for good purpose, not for evil,”

“We promise it's of pure intention, so can you open a portal for us?” Regina asked, getting more and more impatient.

“I can. Only one of you will go through the door though,”

“Wait? Why?”

“Because I do not like spoiling such powerful magic and since this flower is unique, it must be found by one person and one person only. Another detail, only the one that finds it, can use it, it's very important,”

“How about that, it seems like the mermaid would have been a waste of her time, after all.” Regina remarked. So, when can I go?”

“Regina, I think you're forgetting something,” Robin interrupted.

She looked at him like she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Isn't the flower supposed to be the final ingredient of some potion. I mean, Rumplestiltskin said...”

“You went see the Dark One for help?!” The Apprentice exclaimed.

“Well to be fair, he's not the dark one anymore and he's the most powerful sorcerer in town,” Regina replied, not really convinced herself.

“If you say so. Also, you don't need any potion, just consuming the Magical Sun would do the trick. It is already rare, no need to make it even more complicated,”

“In that case, I'm ready to go,”

“Well then, move over,”

The Apprentice did a gesture with his hand and a door appeared out of nowhere.

“At the other side is the Enchanted Forest,” He explained. “This key will allow you to make it back here. Oh, also another thing, you have to make it back before nightfall or the door disappear and you will be trapped there forever,”

“Got it,” Regina said, putting the key in her pocket along with the drawing of the flower that Gold had given her.

“Hey, it's going to be fine, you're going to be fine. You will find this flower,” Robin said with a smile.

“What makes you said that?”

“I believe in you.”

They kissed and then, Regina opened the door and step in while Robin whispered “Good luck” in the background.

**PRESENT**

The next day, the first thing Hope did at school, was to apologize to her friends for her rude behavior the day before.

“So you're over you 'nemesis'?” Graham asked, while they were waiting for the English class with Mr Chapman to start.

“Yeah. I guess.”

That was a lie though. Hope hadn't still coped with the fact someone was better than her at something she was meant to excel at. She hadn't slept much the night before because her mind had been focused on the first real practice session that was happening that afternoon and she was determined to show everyone and especially, Taylor, who Hope Locksley really was.

During the English class, Hope was focusing on practice, drawing little bows on her copy of the text they were studying, so much that she didn't hear when the teacher asked her a question.

“What is so interesting about Shakespeare that you can't answer my question, Miss Locksley? Miss Locksley!”

“Hope!” Melody who was sitting next to her, exclaimed.

“Oh, sorry,” Hope said when she realized everyone in the classroom was staring at her.

“Miss Locksley, are you okay?”

“I am... Actually, no, can I go to the bathroom?”

“Alright. But Miss Glowerhaven is coming with you.”

“Mr Chapman, I can't.”

“I'm afraid, I don't understand.”

“I can't leave my brother. Mermaid problem.”

“Oh I see,”

“I can go by myself, I promise I'm not going to run away,” Hope insisted, frowning.

“Fine, in that case, you can go alone.”

Hope got up and walked out. She had no intention of going to the bathroom. Instead she went outside and sat down on a bench to get a bit of fresh air. She put her head in her hands, trying to collect herself. She could not stay there for much longer. She needed to get back to class, otherwise Mr Chapman would start to get suspicious.

“Hope, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?”

Hope looked up and saw Snow in front of her.

“Snow! I didn't see you there,” Hope replied, a bit embarrassed to be caught out of class by the headmistress.

“Shouldn't you be in class?”

“Yes, I... I'm not feeling good,”

“Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want me to call your mother?”

“No, it's fine, I think I'll survive. Excuse me but I have to go back to class now.”

“Alright, it was nice talking to you!”

Practice began at precisely three in the afternoon. When she got to the Archery Center, Hope noticed that everyone else was already there; Taylor was talking to the three other girls in the club and they all seemed to be excited to see her come in. Hope rolled her eyes. Merida was busy chatting with August Booth and Hope wondered what he was doing here. She stopped by the locker room to change and put her hair into a ponytail, and then returned to the main room.

“Good afternoon everyone and welcome to first archery practice session. If you're here today, it is because each one of you has the potential to become the best archer of Storybrooke High and maybe be part of the Annual Competition of High Schools. But before we get to that point, we need start with the basics. An archer isn't a good archer without a good bow and arrows, so this is why we're not going to do any shooting today but everyone of you is going to build their own bows and arrows,” Merida explained.

“Wait... What?!” A sophomore boy reacted.

“You heard me. This is why Mr Booth is here today. He's going to teach you all how to master the wood to make the best weapon possible that will be yours and yours only,”

“Thank you Merida,” August said. “Well, let's not lose any more time. Behind me, you will find all the material protection and tools that you need to...”

Hope was not really listening to what he was saying. She was too busy thinking how much of a stupid idea this was. She had signed up to improve her archery skills, not carve things into wood. This wasn’t woodshop. And anyway, she didn't need a new bow. She already had one, one that her father had given her as a present a few years ago. However, she didn't really have a choice, it was either get to work or be fired from the club.

At the end of the two hours, no one was done with their set of bow and arrows. No one, of course, except for Taylor Barton. Her bow looked like it had been crafted by a professional and she even had the time to dip the tip of each of her twelve arrows in pink paint and written her initial letters T.B on each of them. Hope stared at her own unfinished bow and wondered whether she was more upset because she wasn't even skilled enough to make a proper basic bow or because every one was acting like Taylor was their new lord and savior.

“I know, I've said no arrow shooting today but seeing the perfection of Miss Barton's work, I think no one would contradict me if I made a tiny exception for her,” Merida announced.

“I would,” Hope mumbled to herself.

“That would be my pleasure,” Taylor replied in a tone of humility so fake that Hope almost puked in her mouth.

Taylor took her newly made arrows and showed everyone what she was able to do, hitting all the moving targets with style, precision and ease, all of that resulting in cheerful applause and screams. Hope was so fed up by all of this that she did not hesitate a single second before going to Taylor at the end of practice.

“Hey Hope. Do you need something?”

“Actually yes. We need a real competition.”

“What are you talking about?”

“A competition. A face-off, just you and me. Tonight at midnight in the forest, near the well. Take whatever arrow you desire. Also, come alone.”

**FLASHBACKS**

The last time Regina had been in the Enchanted Forest was during the missing year and to be frank, she had not missed it all. She was quite happy with her current life in Storybrooke, with Robin, Henry and Roland. And running water. She had no idea where the Magical Sun was situated so she decided to follow her instincts. Unfortunately they were not really cooperative today. She thought about using a location spell, but it did not work.

“This is so stupid. I should just get back to Storybrooke now,” She said to herself, as she sat down on her rock on the beach for a few minutes. Suddenly she saw someone walking to her. Black hair, white shirt, no shoes, Regina immediately recognized him. It was Prince Eric.

“Miss Mills? What are you doing here?”

“Hello Eric. I'm here on a mission. Where's Ariel?”

“Oh, she's swimming in the ocean, apparently it's good for the babies.”

“The babies?”

“Yeah, Ariel's pregnant with twins. We're really excited!”

“Well, congratulations,” Regina said, happy for them but a little bitter that everyone but her was with child.

“Thank you, so what's the mission exactly? Maybe I can help.”

“I'm not sure you can help, but I've got nothing to lose so what the hell. I'm looking for this,” She explained, giving him the drawing of the flower.

“The Magical Sun? You're looking for the Magical Sun?”

“You know about it?”

“Of course, my great-grandfather drew this!”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yeah, it was him who found the flower and proved its existence. I don't know what he did with it exactly but I know it saved a lot of people in my kingdom,”

“Do you know where he found it?”

“No, I'm sorry but that would be useless since it changes place all the time, but there is a portrait of him in the main room of my castle with a caption that says: 'If you're searching for something untraceable, try to remember why you lost it first.'”

“What am I supposed to do with that?”

“I don't know but I don't think it was a coincidence that we stumbled upon each other today. It was fate and fate wants you to find that flower. Now if you don't mind, I have to go. Good luck!”

Regina watched Eric leave and tried to figure out what that quote could mean. She remembered perfectly where and when she lost her ability to procreate: it happened many years ago in her castle, but she definitely did not have enough time to make it there. It was a lost cause. Although, the quote did not mention where the thing had been lost, but _why_. Cora. This is why she wasn’t able to have her own children. Because of her mother, because she had to show her she did not control her, and that's when Regina realized where the Magical Sun was. She ran to the door and got back to Storybrooke sooner than planned.

“Regina! Have you already found it?!” Robin asked, startled.

“No, I haven't.”

“But what are you doing here? Are you giving up already?”

“No, I'm not... I'm sorry but I have to go to my vault,”

“Regina... I don't understand. Why do you need...”

But she had already transported herself to her vault. Without thinking a single second, she opened her mother's coffin. Due to the preservation sell, Cora looked like she was just sleeping and Regina instantly saw it on her chest: the yellow flower, shining and magnificent had taken roots into the corpse. Regina wondered if the Magical Sun had been there all along, waiting to be picked but she did not really care. She tore the flower off delicately and ate it. It tasted like honey and lemon and it made her all warm inside and at this instant, she knew deep inside that her problem was partly fixed. She looked at her mother and another miracle happened. Indeed another flower had already grown back in her chest. She did not question how a such thing was possible and took the new flower that she put in a glass box, then closed down the coffin and went back to Robin.

“Regina, are you alright?” Robin asked, still not sure what was happening.

“I've never been better. So, why don't we go and have that baby?”

**PRESENT**

Her mother had always forbidden her to go there but it was an emergency. Hope entered her mother's vault and started to look for something, anything that could help beat Taylor. She was aware that using magic was basically like cheating but she had no other choice. She spent a few minutes looking for a potion, a spell, anything before finding what she needed. It was a yellow flower in a glass box labeled 'For luck'. She put it her mouth and swallowed the most she can, despite its awful taste that was impossible to describe. She did not feel much change, but she had no time to lose. She ran as fast as she could to the well, where the face-off was supposed to happen. Yet, when she arrived, Taylor was not alone.

“Mom? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Don't talk to me like that, young lady! I'm very disappointed. Taylor warned me of your little escapade.”

“Why would you do that?!”

“I was trying to help,”

“Oh yeah? Because you're so much better than everyone, that's it? Well you're not! Actually nobody likes you, they're just pretending to. Now let's fi...”

All of sudden, Hope's vision started to blurry and everything around her disappeared. She could not see or hear anything. She fell to the ground and blacked out.

  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *for those you who don't get it, Taylor's last name is a nod to Clint Barton, the Marvel Character.  
> *Hope does have permanent health problems: Thanks to the flower, Regina was able to have a baby but since all magic comes with the price...


	3. Solutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose Chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the names of two main characters: Colette and Liam are now Rose and Graham.

 

Rose hated hospitals. She hated those white spotless clean rooms. She hated the air full of toxin and virus. She hated seeing the agonizing patients laying on the beds. Yet, as soon as she learned what had happened to her best friend in the middle of the night, Rose had no choice but to rush to the hospital to check on her. Storybrooke Hospital was pretty empty, just Rose and her mom, as well as Hope's parents were there; Graham and Neal and their families were expected to come and visit Hope in the morning.

Rose bought another coffee at the vending machine.

“Honey, why don't you go home and get some rest,” Belle suggested.

“I can't mom. I have to stay here when Hope wakes up,”

“I promise, I'll call you when she does,”

“And what if she never does?” Rose reacted, on the verge of tears.

“Don't say that. Of course, she will,” Belle tried to reassure her daughter.

“Will she? We don't even know what caused this!”

“Actually, we do,” Regina intervened.

“We do?”

“I went to my vault before coming here and something was missing, a rare flower. She must have eaten it and she shouldn't have. This is all my fault,”

“A rare flower? What kind?” Belle asked.

“Yes. It's called The Magical Sun,”

“Oh, I know that but I thought it was a legend,”

“Well, it's not. It allowed me to have a daughter and now it's going to take her back,”

“Hold on, are you saying Hope is in this bed because of magic?” Rose exclaimed.

“Yes, that's exactly it,”

“Then, what are we waiting for? Medicine or surgery or whatever is not going to help her. She needs magic! Do something Regina!”

“No, I can't, I... won't. It's too dangerous. I don't know enough. I won't put my daughter's life at risk,”

“If you won't do it, I will!”

“Honey, listen to yourself,” Belle advised. “You don't even know magic at all,”

“That's not true!” Rose retorted. “I know plenty! Dad taught me,”

“That he did but it was for little things. Look what happened to him because of it,”

Rose did not want to think about it. Not now, not when her best friend's life was in danger. She resigned. Still, she had to find a solution, she could not just stay here idly.

“You're right, mom. I think I'm gonna go home now,”

“That's a good idea. Let me drive you,”

“No, I'm okay. I'll just walk,”

“But it's the middle of the night!”

“Don't worry, I can take care of myself,” Rose reassured her mother. “I'll text you when I get home.”

“Alright, be careful,”

“Always am. Bye mom, bye Regina!”

Rose walked out of the hospital and stood there for a good minute, feeling the fresh wind on her skin and through her hair. She tried to think the whole situation through because she had no intention of going home, not now anyway.

“Think,” she told herself.

If she was not allowed to use magic then she would resort to science. In fact, Rose was very good at science. What interested more was genetics and especially, the theory of evolution. She walked, almost ran, to the town library. It was usually closed at this hour of the night but being the owner's daughter had its advantages: she took the safety key properly hidden and unlocked the door. To be honest, she did not really know what she was looking for nor where to even begin. She had spent a good hour going through books about various topics from mysterious diseases to magical botany, when her phone rang.

“Mom? Is everything okay?”

“I don't know. You tell me,”

“What do you mean?”

“You know perfectly what I mean. Where are you?”

“I've told you. Home,”

“You're sure about that?”

Rose did not answer because she knew what was going on: her mother had already left the hospital and gotten home earlier than she thought she would.

“I...I'll be right here.”

 

The Gold mansion was one of the biggest houses in town. Rose had always wondered why she and her mother still lived there when it was just the two of them. She sometimes felt so lonely in such a huge space, especially at night, where all she could hear was the loud silence surrounding her. Belle was waiting on the couch, a cup of tea in her hand, looking both worried and disappointed. Rose did not try to sneak into her bedroom and instead, went and sit down next to her mother.

“I'm sorry,”

“Where were you? And what were you thinking?”

“At the library. I was trying to find a way to help Hope,”

“Rose, listen. There's nothing you can do. You have got to let the doctors to their job,”

“But I just can't sit there and watch someone I care for die!” Rose exclaimed. “I already made that mistake once,”

“What are you talking about?”

 

**FLASHBACKS**

 

“She's too young, Rumple!”

“You're overreacting. There's no harm,”

“A six-year old girl should be out playing with friends of her age, not practicing magic,”

“You want her to waste her time with mundane things when she could be so much more?”

“Exactly!” Belle answered, quite angry at her husband.

“But think about all the potential, all the great thing she could do,”

“Our daughter won't be doing magic as long as I'm alive, end of discussion!”

“Belle, she transformed a sandcastle into a real one, imagine what she can be capable of!”

“And scared Phillip and Aurora's son in the process. This is too dangerous,”

“What could possibly happen? She won't hurt anyone, I promise.”

“No means no! I have to go to the library now. Oh, and don't forget, Rose has an appointment with the eye doctor today,”

“I know. I guess I'll see you at dinner?”

After Belle left the house, Rumple went upstairs where Rose was waiting in her room. She was playing on the floor with her favorite doll.

“Hey cupcake, we have to get ready now,”

“What for?” Rose asked, more interested by her doll than by her father.

“We have to go at the doctor's to see if your eyes work fine, remember?”

“Couldn't you just magic them better?”

Rumple did not answer. Of course he could but he knew his wife would never agree to it.

“I can't sweetheart,” he lied. “Dr Murdock is a professional, she knows what she's doing better than I do.”

“Okay,” Rose said, not entirely convinced.

“Time to put your shoes on now. Do you want me to help you?”

“No, I can do it myself. I'm a big girl, you know,”

“That you are,”

 

When, Rose and Rumple arrived at Dr Murdock's, there was only one other person in the waiting room. Phillip Dawn was reading a magazine and did not even bother to say hello Rumple and his daughter, not even notice them. Rumple could hear Belle's voice in his head telling him to go apologize on Rose's behalf.

“Good afternoon,” Rumple started, not sure of what he would say next.

Phillip put the magazine back on the table in front him and stood up.

“Mr Gold. Do you want anything?”

“I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened between Rose and your son. If there's anything I can do.” Rumple admitted, trying to sound the most genuine possible.

“I don't think so. Junior is pretty traumatized,”

“Traumatized? Aren't you overreacting a little bit?”

“Your daughter sent a toy-sized dragon after him so no I'm not overreacting. You should really teach her good manners,”

“Good manners? My daughter is very well educated, thank you very much. I don't need someone of your... rank to tell me how to raise my own child,”

“You may have magic but I'm not scared of you, Gold! Stay away from me and stay away from my family!”

The two men were so immersed into their argument that neither one of us had noticed that Dr Murdock had entered the room.

“Is everything okay?” She asked.

“Everything is fine,” Phillip lied.

“If you say so. Mr Dawn, if you please would come into my office. Mr Gold, wait here, I'll see you later,”

Phillip followed Dr Murdock into her office, meanwhile Rumple noticed Rose was doing something strange. She was growing flowers out of the wooden floor, so many of them that soon enough she was sitting in the middle of her little colorful garden. It was so detailed that Rumple glimpsed a ladybug crawling on his right shoe. Without saying a word, Rumple grabbed Rose's hand, whipped off what she had done by moving his other hand and walked out of the waiting room.

“Papa, what are you doing?”

“We're leaving now!”

“But we haven't even done the thing for my eyes yet!”

“I know, it is useless anyway. We'll tell your mother we did though. Understood?”

“Yes, papa,”

“Good.”

“Where are we going?”

“I'm gonna teach you how to use magic,”

 

**PRESENT**

 

Another week of school began and Hope was still unconscious. Normally, Rose would have followed a precise schedule consisting of applying for at least five clubs, doing her homework at least an entire week before the due date and even volunteering at the Storybrooke hospital. However, she was in no mood for any of this. She was more concentrated on saving Hope than on getting straight As.

“Eat a little something,” Neal insisted.

It was Tuesday and they were at the cafeteria.

“I'm not hungry,” Rose replied, her nose stuck in a book about the consequences of dark magic. Her meal tray was empty when it would usually have been full of healthy food.

“You should really try the cheesecake!” Graham suggested, his mouth full. “It's freaking delicious!”

“I don't have time to eat cake. Hope needs me,” Rose exclaimed about to get up.

“Where are you going like this?” Neal asked.

“To the library. I'll surely find more helpful information there than here,”

“You've already spent hours there!” Graham pointed out. “Mind if I take your piece of cheesecake?”

“No, go ahead. Also, I clearly haven't spend enough time. There is a solution, there _must_ be. I just haven't searched hard enough.”

“Maybe if you didn't do any of this on your own...” Neal said.

“What does that mean?”

“Well since the beginning, you have tried to help her all on your own. You didn't even bother to ask us if we wanted to help. Hell, you don't even want Regina or your mom to help you.”

“Are you saying you actually want to help me?”

“Personally, I haven't said anything,” Graham remarked.

“Shut up, Graham. So?”

“Of course, I – I mean we (Neal stared at Graham for a minute) – want to help. Team work always pays off.”

“Okay then, let's all go to the library,”

“No, it's useless. We need to go where Hope found that flower which made her sick, first.”

“Her mother's vault. But we can't go there, it's locked by blood magic,”

“Let's just ask Regina,” Graham proposed.

“Oh yeah, she would totally agree to let us go through her private belongings... NOT!”

“Graham is right though. We need to ask Regina, it's the only solution and frankly, we have nothing to lose,”

 

Rose knocked at the Mills' house front door and Robin came to answer them.

“Hey Robin. Is Regina here?”

“Hey kids. No, sorry, she's still at the hospital with Hope. She should be back soon though. Wanna come in?”

“Oh, we don't want to disturb you,”

“No, it's alright. I'm alone anyway, come in, I insist,”

The three teenagers walked into the house, then towards the living room.

“Please sit. Anybody wants something to drink?”

“I'll take a iced tea, if you have some please,” Graham said.

“Coming right up. Neal?”

“Same thing,”

“Rose, how about you?”

“No, I'm good, thanks.”

Robin left to the kitchen while they were waiting for him.

“We're wasting time here,” Rose whispered “This was a bad idea,”

“Rose, would you calm down? And why are you always rushing like that? It's gonna be okay, we're gonna save Hope.”

“I'm just tired of waiting for a miracle. It's almost been a week!”

“But you're not thinking logically right now,”

“Excuse you, I'm the most logical person there is,”

“That's true but don't let your emotions cloud your judgment, okay?”

Robin came back with two glasses of iced tea that he gave to Neal and Graham.

“You kids are here for Hope, aren't you?”

“Why else would we be here?”

“Right. I know you're waiting for Regina but maybe I can help you too,”

“Do you know what caused all of this?” Neal asked.

“Oh yeah. She ate that flower called The Magical Sun. It's a very powerful plant, you know? It's actually thanks to it that Regina was able to get pregnant. It can cure almost every disease,”

“But if it's supposed to heal people, why did he do that to Hope?” Graham questioned.

“Because, once someone takes a bite of it, it becomes somehow poisonous,”

“So this is Regina's fault? She shouldn't have kept that plant after using out,” Rose noticed.

“You think Regina is not full of remorse after what happened? Our daughter might die because of what she did years ago. Yesterday, she went to her vault to clean it off entirely, just in case,”

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that,”

“Don't be. We're all a bit on edge and stressed out,”

“Maybe if we found another flower like that we could save her, no?” Graham suggested.

“We could but that flower is very rare, only appearing every other century, it's useless,” Robin explained.

“So what can we do?”

“I don't know. Science won't save her, we had her go through a series of tests and nothing showed up. Her condition is not something that can be cured with medicine or needles. We need magic. Powerful magic,”

“If only, my father was there. I'm sure he would know what to do,”

“I'm sure he would. In fact, it was he who told us about the Magical Sun. I'm sure he would do how to make an antidote,”

 

**FLASHBACKS**

 

“Papa, where are we?”

“This house once belonged to a powerful wizard named Merlin. It's the perfect place to practice magic,”

“But mama said we couldn't do magic. That it was bad!”

“What your mother doesn't know won't her hurt. It will be our little secret, okay?”

“Okay,”

“Good. Also, we won't do anything dark or evil, just fun magic, exciting right?”

“Yeah,”

“Tell me, earlier at the doctor's you made all those flowers, how did you do that?”

“I just thought it and tah-dah, it was there,”

“Just like that?”

“Yes. Did I do something wrong?”

“No, not at all. What else can you do? Can you show me?”

Rose walked to the center of the room and lifted her arm to the ceiling like she was trying to reach for the sky. Suddenly, it started snowing inside the house. But it was not cold snow, on the contrary, it was warm and soft like cotton.

“Wow. Pretty impressive,” Rumple admitted while one inch of snow had already covered the entire floor. “But this is just visuals, can you do anything that could help people?”

“I think but I don't wanna hurt anyone. Not after what I did to Phil,”

“Don't worry, you won't hurt anybody. It's just you and me here. I'm a big man I can't handle anything,”

“Okay, give me your hand,”

Rose took her father's hand. The scars and wrinkles showed the signs of years passed. Rose focused and magically every little scar disappeared and Rumple's hand now looked much younger but that's what not it. His hand started turning blue like that night, you could even see little stars and comets as if the cosmos had infiltrated his skin. Very soon, the color reached his elbow.

“That's enough!” Rumple explained, pulling his arm out of his daughter's hand.

“Are you mad?”

“No, no, sweetheart, I promise I'm not mad,” He could see his daughter tearing up, “We just need to go now,” Rumple tried to wash the blue off his arm with his own magic but nothing was happening.

“But we just got here, I wanna do more magic!”

“I said that's enough, now let's go!”

 

They stayed a bit outside before going back home. Rumple sat on a bench, his arm still blue as night, while Rose was playing with a ferret that she might had or not brought through magic.

When the sun set down, they decided it was time to leave and go home.

“Did you two have a good day?” Belle asked while she was serving the smashed potatoes.

“Fantastic. How about you?”

“Oh you know, just the usual at the library. What did Dr Murdock say about her sight? Everything in check?”

“Oh... Yeah, totally. Her eyes are perfectly fine. In fact, she said...”

“Rumple, why are you lying?”

“What? I don't know what you're talking about. Can you give me the salt?”

“You'll get the salt when you tell me the truth, Rumple! Do you think I'm stupid? Dr Murdock called me earlier to tell me you guys didn't do the consultation at all. Why?”

“We had other things to do,”

“Other things? Like what?”

“If I tell you, you promise not to get mad?”

“Rumple, what's going on?”

“Alright, I took Rose so we could...”

“Papa showed me how to use magic!” Rose exclaimed, very enthusiastic.

“He did what now?”

“He said it would be fun and harmless,”

“But I strictly said no magic, no matter the reason, it's too dangerous,”

“Honey, calm down, it's not like we committed a crime. She has so much potential, I just wanted to see what else she could do,”

“It's true mama. Look at his arm, isn't it pretty?”

Rumple showed his blue arm to his wife who could not help but laugh.

“Okay this is kind of cute. Do you like it so much you decided to keep it?”

“I can't wash it off actually. It's like it's stuck in my skin,”

“I can do it, if you want,” Rose said and one second later, Rumple's arm went back like it used to be.

“Look at that, your own daughter is better than you at magic. That's almost funny,”

“Mama, I really want Papa to teach me more stuff. Please!”

“I guess that's not such a bad idea after all,” Belle admitted.

“Really?” Rumple and Rose reacted at the same time.

“Yes but only one lesson a week,”

“Two would be better...”

“I said one! And I have to know what you're gonna teach her and where. And if anything turned out bad, you stop immediately!”

“Works for me. What do you say, Rose?”

Rumple looked at his girl and could see her eyes glowing of anticipation and happiness.

 

**PRESENT**

 

“That's it! I have the perfect idea,” Rose exclaimed.

“Come on, spit it out!”

“We need to talk to my dad, I'm sure he would know what do!”

“Rose, your father is...”

“I know he is and I don't like to hear that word. It's possible to communicate with people that have passed away. All you need is the person who killed whoever you want to talk to and the weapon they used to do it,”

“That would be important if someone actually murdered your father” Neal said, “but didn't he die of a heart attack?”

“Heart attack? I thought your father vanished all of sudden and no one ever saw him since it happened,” Graham said.

“So he could be still alive?” Robin wondered.

“No, I'm pretty sure he is dead,” Rose confirmed.

“Wait, what do you mean?”

“Well, my dad wasn't murdered per se, but someone caused his death or disappearance, if you prefer. Of course, it was an incident but still,”

“But who killed him then?” Robin asked.

“Me. I did it,” Rose revealed after a long break of silence.

“What? That's impossible, you were just a kid when it happened. There's no way, you could've killed your own father,”

“Like I said, it was an accident. This is why I don't like talking about my father's death, because I'm partly responsible,”

“And what did you use to kill him?”

“That's the problem, I technically used nothing. There was no weapon whatsoever, so I'm not sure the spell would work,”

“We should wait for Regina and ask her. I'm sure she knows since she used the spell to invoke her own mother once,” Robin added. “She should be here soon,”

Indeed, just twenty minutes later Regina was back from the hospital.

“How's Hope?” Robin asked after hugging his wife.

“Her condition has not changed at all. The doctors don't know whether to be optimistic or not,”

She went to the kitchen and came back with a cup of coffee.

“What are you all doing here?” She asked when she noticed the three of them sitting in her living-room.

“Actually, we're here to see you,” Rose announced.

She then started to explain the whole situation to her, from the Magical Sun to the infamous spell that allowed people to talk to someone who died.

“I'm sorry but if it wasn't an actual murder, it won't work. There may be another solution though,”

“Really?”

“The other way to communicate with someone in the underworld is to poor some magical ale from the land of DunBroch onto the person's tombstone,”

“But we're in Storybrooke! How can we find such water here?”

“You should go and ask Merida, maybe she has some of it, you never know!”

“Well, let's go guys, we don't have time to lose!”

 

Unfortunately, Merida did not possess of the magical ale and Rose was beginning to lose hope. If her father could not help her, then who could? It was almost evening when she decided to visit her friend at the hospital. She was lying there in her bed, almost as if she was under some sort of sleeping curse; Rose wondered if either of Hope's parents had tried true love kiss to wake her up. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took her friend's hand. Her fingers were cold like ice and solid like rock. She stayed here for god knows long before receiving a text from Neal saying: “ _Meet me at Granny's now_ ,”

When she arrived there, Neal was not alone. Graham was there as well as Regina and David, Neal's father.

“I don't understand. Why are you all here?”

“I think I've found a way to talk to your father,”

“You have?”

“Well it's crazy and it might not work but we don't know if it will if we don't actually try,”

“Then, come on, tell me!”

“You're going to go to the past and ask him,”

Rose then started to laughed really loudly. She laughed for a least five minutes without being able to stop or paying attention to the weird looks her family, friends and Granny's customers were giving her. Finally, after taking a deep breathe, she said:

“What?”

“You heard me. We're going to open a time travel,”

“And how are you going to do that? This is one of the most difficult spells ever and we need specific ingredients which we don't have,”

“Well that's not entirely true. We're going to use the same exact ingredient Zelena used when she opened her time portal many years ago. That is my dad's sword, your mother's heart, myself and...”

“My dad's brain. So yeah this is a lost cause,”

“Not necessarily,” Regina pointed out. “You're gonna use your brain, since you have pretty much inherited your father, figuratively of course. So what do you say?”

“And you're ready to give your own heart just so I can talk to my dad?”

“Well technically, it's to save my daughter,”

 

 

**FLASHBACKS**

 

Six months had now passed since the magic lessons had started. Every Friday, Rose and Rumple would go to the sorcerer's mansion where he would teach her something new about magic. From time to time, Belle would go with them because she liked to overview things just in case something tragic happened.

“Excited for your lesson, today?” Rumple asked to his daughter after picking her up at school.

“Yay! What are we going to do?” She asked while getting in the car.

“It's a surprise but I can tell you we're not going to the mansion,”

“Oooh. Where are we going, papa?”

“In the forest!”

“The forest? But it's dangerous! Mama said there are wolves and all kind of monstrous creatures,”

“Your mother only said that so you wouldn't go there, but don't worry, I'll be there to protect you if a monster attacks you,”

“Does Mama know we're going there?”

“Yes, she does. Of course, at first, she wasn't very enthusiastic about it but I managed to convince her,”

They drove to the forest then walked the rest of the way until they reached the center where the trees were closer.

“Alright, let's begin. First, you're going to...”

“Hey, Papa, look there's someone over there!”

Rumple stared where her daughter pointed and saw a silhouette in the distance.

“Stay here,” Rumple told Rose as he walked toward the mysterious person. “Practice some magic tricks while I'm gone,”

“Is anyone here?” The voice asked.

She sounded familiar, Rumple thought, still moving forward. When he was close enough to see what the person looked like, he finally said:

“Belle?”

“Oh my god, it worked! It actually did work!”

“I'm afraid I don't understand. Do I know you?”

“Papa, it's me, Rose!”

“Rose? That's impossible, my daughter is over there, waiting for me. You're too old to be my daughter!”

“It's because I'm from the future, I used a time portal to get here. Hurry, Neal won't be able to keep it open much longer. You need to come with me now!”

“ How do I know this is not allusion and you're not trying to trick me or something,”

“Give me your hand,”

“What?”

“Just give me your hand,”

Reluctantly, Rumple did as she said and what happened next immediately proved him wrong. His skin turned blue as the night just like his daughter had done to him several months ago.

“Rose! It's really you!”

“Papa,”

They hugged each other really tight for a good minute before Rose said.

“Papa, I need your help. Well, one of my friends need your help. We have to go now,”

Rumple looked back and see his little girl alone in the distance, doing the magic tricks that he had taught her, over and over again.

“Don't worry, she'll be fine,”

“How do you know?”

“Because I used to be her,”

“I need to take her home and tell her goodbye first. I can't just leave her there alone,”

“You have to,” Rose claimed. She realized that her younger self had actually never killed her father, but rather that she had taken her father away from her younger self. For a second, she hesitated, wondering if this really was the right thing to do but then she realized one fundamental law: never mess up with the time line.

“Okay, let's go now,”

They held each other's hand and together went through the portal back to the present.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, my marvel nerd self couldn't help but name one of the characters after a Marvel character. Indeed, the eye doctor is called Murdock because of Matt Murdock from Daredevil who is blind and she's an eye doctor, get it?


End file.
